Chip Roy

Chip Roy
Official portrait, 2022
Chip Roy
Born	Charles Eugene Roy 7 8, 1972
Birthplace	Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Attorney, politician
Known for	U.S. Representative for Texas's 21st congressional district; chief of staff to Senator Ted Cruz; first assistant attorney general of Texas
Education	University of Virginia (BS, MS) University of Texas at Austin (JD)
Children	2

Charles Eugene "Chip" Roy (born August 7, 1972) is an American attorney and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 21st congressional district since January 3, 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Roy rose to prominence in Texas conservative politics through a series of senior staff positions in state and federal government before winning elected office. He served as chief of staff to U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, as a senior adviser to Texas Governor Rick Perry, and as the first assistant attorney general of Texas under Ken Paxton. In Congress, Roy has served as policy chair of the House Freedom Caucus and has established a reputation for confrontational legislative tactics, including willingness to break with his own party and with President Donald Trump on matters of spending, immigration, and procedural governance. In August 2025, Roy announced his candidacy for Texas Attorney General in the 2026 elections, setting off an open race for his congressional seat.

Early Life

Chip Roy was born Charles Eugene Roy on August 7, 1972, in Bethesda, Maryland. Details about his family background and upbringing in Maryland are limited in available sources. Roy later relocated to Virginia for his undergraduate and graduate studies before eventually settling in Texas, where he built his career in law and politics.

Education

Roy attended the University of Virginia, where he earned both a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science degree. He subsequently enrolled at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he obtained his Juris Doctor degree. His legal training at the University of Texas would prove foundational to his later roles in the Texas Attorney General's office and his legislative career in Congress.

Career

Early Political Career and Work with Governor Rick Perry

Roy's entry into Texas politics came through service to Governor Rick Perry. He served in a senior advisory capacity on Perry's staff and was involved in the governor's growing political operation. Perry announced Roy as part of his expanding campaign staff during this period. Roy was appointed by Perry as the state's director of federal relations, a position based in Washington, D.C., where he served as a liaison between the Texas governor's office and the federal government. Roy was described as having served as the chief ghostwriter on Perry's book Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington, an anti-Washington manifesto that articulated Perry's states' rights philosophy.

When a successor was named for the state-federal relations director post in October 2011, Roy moved on to new roles in Republican politics.

Chief of Staff to Senator Ted Cruz

Following Ted Cruz's election to the U.S. Senate in November 2012, Cruz selected Roy as his chief of staff. The appointment was announced in late November 2012, with Cruz drawing on Roy's experience in Texas government and conservative policy circles. The Dallas Morning News noted Roy's background as the ghostwriter of Perry's book in its reporting on the hire.

As Cruz's chief of staff, Roy played a central role during a politically turbulent period in Republican politics. He was a key adviser during the 2013 effort by Cruz and other conservative Republicans to defund the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare), a strategy that contributed to a partial government shutdown. Roy helped coordinate Cruz's legislative tactics during the internal Republican debates over how aggressively to challenge the healthcare law.

Roy was also involved in Cruz's approach to immigration policy, working to shape the senator's positions on President Obama's executive actions on immigration. The Texas Tribune later characterized Roy's time with Cruz as formative in establishing his conservative bona fides and his approach to governance, which emphasized confrontation with the political establishment.

First Assistant Attorney General of Texas

In November 2014, following Ken Paxton's election as Texas Attorney General, Roy was named as the first member of Paxton's incoming team, serving as the first assistant attorney general of Texas — the second-highest position in the office.

In this role, Roy oversaw much of the day-to-day operations of the Texas Attorney General's office and was involved in the state's legal strategies on a range of policy issues. His tenure in the office provided him with extensive experience in state-level legal affairs that he would later reference throughout his political career and in his 2025 campaign for attorney general.

U.S. House of Representatives

2018 Campaign

In December 2017, Roy announced his candidacy for Texas's 21st congressional district, the seat being vacated by retiring longtime Republican incumbent Lamar Smith. The district, which stretches from the northern suburbs of San Antonio through the Texas Hill Country and into parts of Austin, had been a reliably Republican seat.

During the campaign, Roy ran as an uncompromising conservative, emphasizing his connections to the Cruz wing of the Republican Party and his desire to challenge Washington's governing culture. The Daily Texan reported that Roy was "betting on desire for change in Washington" as a central theme of his campaign. Roy won the election and succeeded Smith, taking office on January 3, 2019.

Congressional Tenure

In Congress, Roy became a member of the House Freedom Caucus, the caucus of the most conservative members of the House Republican Conference, and rose to serve as its policy chair. He established a reputation for procedural confrontation, using parliamentary tools to slow or block legislation he viewed as insufficiently conservative, particularly on matters of government spending and immigration.

The Texas Tribune described Roy as a "congressional obstructionist" in its coverage of his career, noting his willingness to use procedural maneuvers and to break publicly with Republican leadership when he felt the party was not adhering to conservative principles. Roy's breaks with President Donald Trump on various issues became a defining feature of his congressional career. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2021 that Roy was testing Republican voters' appetite for Trump dissenters within the party, positioning himself as a principled conservative willing to criticize the former president when he believed it was warranted.

Roy also engaged in work on election integrity issues. In a joint appearance with conservative activist Scott Presler, Roy participated in a Republican Study Committee event focused on election integrity, with the committee describing the session as an effort to "sound the alarm" and "bring the receipts" on the subject.

2026 Texas Attorney General Campaign

In August 2025, Roy announced his candidacy for Texas Attorney General, entering the Republican primary to succeed the incumbent, Ken Paxton. The decision set off an open race for his congressional seat, with 15 candidates eventually filing to run for the 21st Congressional District.

Roy's campaign for attorney general centered on his conservative credentials and his experience as the former first assistant attorney general. He emphasized fighting federal overreach and restoring integrity to the office. The Republican primary field included state Senator Mayes Middleton and other candidates. A February 2026 poll conducted ahead of the March primary showed Roy maintaining a 10-percentage-point lead over Middleton among Republican primary voters.

However, Roy's history of breaking with Trump became a central point of contention in the race. Politico reported that Trump "looms over" the Texas attorney general contest, and that Roy's disagreements with the president had become a "flashpoint" in the primary campaign, as opponents sought to cast doubt on his loyalty to the broader Republican coalition. Roy responded by framing his independence as evidence of principled conservatism rather than disloyalty, stating that his loyalty was to the Constitution and to the people of Texas.

Spectrum News profiled the four-candidate Republican primary field, highlighting the competitive nature of the race and the differing approaches each candidate brought to the question of how the attorney general's office should operate.

Personal Life

Roy has two children. He has resided in Texas for much of his adult life, having settled in the state after attending law school at the University of Texas at Austin. Before his election to Congress, Roy lived in McKinney, Texas, during his time as state-federal relations director under Governor Perry. He later relocated to the 21st Congressional District in the Austin–San Antonio corridor area.

Legacy

Roy's career in Texas and national politics has spanned roles in the executive and legislative branches at both the state and federal levels. His service as a senior aide to Governor Perry, chief of staff to Senator Cruz, and first assistant attorney general under Paxton placed him at the center of major conservative policy battles in Texas over more than a decade. In Congress, his role as policy chair of the House Freedom Caucus positioned him as one of the most prominent conservative voices pushing for reductions in federal spending and stricter immigration enforcement.

His willingness to publicly challenge both Republican leadership and President Trump distinguished him from many of his Freedom Caucus colleagues and generated significant media attention. The Wall Street Journal framed his political approach as a test case for whether Republican voters would accept dissent from Trump within the conservative movement. His 2025 decision to leave Congress and seek the office of Texas Attorney General represented a return to the state-level legal arena where he had begun his career, and his candidacy prompted the largest open-seat congressional race in the 21st District in decades, with 15 candidates entering to succeed him.